SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A lawsuit over alleged illegal wiretapping should not proceed because it would force disclosure of state secrets in the U.S. anti-terrorism effort, an attorney for the U.S. Justice Department argued in court on Friday. At a hearing in a San Francisco federal court, civil liberties advocates attempted to persuade U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White to allow a lawsuit against the government to proceed. As the proceeding began, White said he...

(Reuters) - Media reports about an insider trading investigation of golfer Phil Mickelson, sports bettor Billy Walters and activist investor Carl Icahn have derailed government efforts to secretly deploy wiretaps, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Federal investigators have been looking into whether Mickelson and Walters may have traded illegally on private information provided by Icahn about his investments in public companies, a source familiar with the...

If you've heard Jonathan Goldstein's abidingly funny radio program "WireTap," your first reaction may well have been confusion. What are these slightly askew phone conversations taking place on my usually-so-earnest public radio station? Why, in the guise of friendship, does this Howard person keep doing these horrible things to Jonathan, and why does Jonathan take it? And then you begin to realize that what you are hearing, although presented with the trappings...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Thursday dismissed federal wiretap claims against Facebook Inc and Zynga Inc in a civil lawsuit over disclosure of user information to advertisers. In a separate ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also revived breach of contract claims under state law against Facebook over the information disclosures. Representatives for Facebook and Zynga could not immediately be reached for comment. Users of...

An electronic surveillance bill has cleared a key hurdle in the Senate. A test vote on the measure Wednesday won the support of 80 senators who want to begin debate. Only 15 senators tried to kill the bill by blocking the debate. The bill would protect from lawsuits the telecommunications companies that helped the government wiretap American phone and computer lines without court approval for nearly six years after the Sept. 11 attacks. The Senate is expected to vote on final passage...

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's president on Friday ruled out any ban on Facebook and YouTube after Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said the sites could be shut to stop his foes anonymously posting audio recordings purportedly exposing corruption in his inner circle. In the latest recording, released on YouTube late on Thursday, Erdogan is purportedly heard berating a newspaper owner over the telephone about an article and suggesting the journalists be sacked, in...

An attorney who represented billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian was indicted Wednesday on charges of paying a private investigator to illegally wiretap the phones of Kerkorian's ex-wife. Terry Christensen is the latest of 11 people charged in an alleged wiretapping scheme involving Hollywood celebrities and executives. Prosecutors say he conspired with private investigator Anthony Pellicano to wiretap the phones of Lisa Bonder Kerkorian in 2002.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sprint Corp and the U.S. government said on Monday they will face off in court over how much money law enforcement agencies owe the wireless provider for help the company was required to give investigators who wanted to tap phone calls. The Obama administration filed a suit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Monday, alleging that Sprint overcharged the government $21 million for expenses it incurred while complying with court-ordered...

Law enforcement agents sought a record number of court orders last year to allow them to secretly listen in on more than 2 million private conversations, a government wiretap report shows. The 1,186 wiretap requests approved by federal and state judges in 1997 marked a 3 percent increase over 1996 and surpassed the 1,154 logged in 1994. The total is believed to be the highest since Congress in 1968 started requiring the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to compile such records.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sprint Corp and the U.S. government said on Monday they will face off in court over how much money law enforcement agencies owe the wireless provider for help the company was required to give investigators who wanted to tap phone calls. The Obama administration filed a suit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Monday, alleging that Sprint overcharged the government $21 million for expenses it incurred while complying with court-ordered...

By Dan Levine SAN FRANCISCO, July 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. government cannot quickly terminate a civil privacy lawsuit over warrantless wiretapping by arguing that such litigation would expose state secrets and harm national security, a U.S. judge has ruled. A group of AT&T Inc customers filed the proposed class action against the National Security Agency and Bush administration officials in 2008, accusing them of improperly operating a warrantless...

The House handed President Bush a victory Saturday, voting to expand the government's abilities to eavesdrop without warrants on foreign suspects whose communications pass through the United States. The 227-183 vote, which followed the Senate's approval Friday, sends the bill to Bush for his signature. He had urged Congress to approve it, saying Saturday, "Protecting America is our most solemn obligation." The administration said the measure is needed to speed the National Security...

* Rajat Gupta says wiretaps improperly admitted at trial * Gupta's 2-year prison term on hold while he appeals * 2nd Circuit panel hears oral arguments in appeal By Nate Raymond NEW YORK, May 21 (Reuters) - Lawyers for former Goldman Sachs Group Inc board member Rajat Gupta sought to reverse his insider-trading conviction on Tuesday, arguing that wiretap evidence used by the prosecution should not have been introduced at trial. Defense lawyer...

They arrived last week at the State of Illinois Center in brown paper packages with no return addresses and no indication of what was inside. Now Illinois State Police are investigating how someone illegally recorded at least one phone conversation between the state's chief utility regulator and an undisclosed person, then mailed copies of the tape to the official's colleagues on the Illinois Commerce Commission. Commission Chairman Terry Barnich confirmed Wednesday that a police...